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Etisalat's ISO certification extended for three years

DUBAI — Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) has announced that its ISO 9001:2000 certificate, first issued in 2002, has been reviewed and extended for another three years.

Eight Departments and Business Units are covered under this certification, and all of them have satisfied the conditions for the extension of the certificate. The Corporation is evaluating methods of getting all departments and Business Units covered under the management programmes and applications required for this certification.

Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an international certification body, has assessed eight departments and business units of Etisalat and found that they remain compliant with ISO 9001:2000 standard requirements. The Corporation's departments and Business Units that have been re-certified are HR, Marketing, Sales and Business Development, Mobile Systems, e-Access, Contact Centre, Ebtikar and Emirates Data Clearing House (EDCH).

Abdullah Jadah, Senior Manager, Quality Department, Etisalat, said: "Continuous improvement to our services and deliverables depends on the quality management systems implemented by Etisalat. These should be assessed against international standards and best practices to ensure reliance on a Total Quality Culture across the corporation".

"The Renewal of these certificates for another three years reflects Etisalat's commitment towards maintaining quality management systems and ensuring their implementation to all departments and business units, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction. A corporation of this size, and one that works in such a fast developing industry, needs to not only fulfil current customer requirements, but to also seek new methods of building up a relationship of trust with the customer," he added.

The new ISO 9001 revision of 2000 was re-structured utilizing the process approach, and aims to enhance customer satisfaction through continual improvement to an effective Quality Management System (QMS). This standard requires the setting up of measurable objectives by management and it follows the achievement of these objectives across all levels of the organisation. This is communicated to all employees to ensure their understanding of their roles in achieving the overall objectives of the organisation.

This new edition of the standard will enable the organisation to increase its effectiveness towards achieving the targets and enhancing competitiveness. All employees are encouraged to be part of quality management system development and implementation. Employee involvement is a critical success factor to maintain the system and ensure continual improvement.

The ISO standard also allows for implementing process classification framework and enhancing systems approach to management. This can be achieved by identifying the value added processes within the organisation and monitoring them to achieve the organisation's goals. Monitoring and measurement of activities including audits are needed to verify that the objectives are being achieved as well as to identify opportunities for improvement.

Ahmed Bin Ali, Manager Public Relations, Etisalat, said: "The importance of this certification is that it recognises the improvements in the Corporation and its high-standards of quality and performance. These are the differentiating factors that keep Etisalat as a pioneer in the regional industry, aiding it to reach goals using logical and scientific methodology."

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